Matching alt-country with a Sixties jangle-pop sensibility, Detroit's Volebeats mix unlikely covers with original rarities to create a forlorn and lonesome lo-fi gem of an album that rings of steel and echoes with reverb. The fiercely independent ensemble attacks Slayer's "Die by the Sword" and the York Brothers' raunchy "Hamtramck Mama" -- a Depression-era stomp banned in the Volebeats' hometown back in 1939. A caring de-Abbafication of "Knowing Me Knowing You" strips away the sheen to restore the subtle beauty the song might have had as a ruff demo. And the oddball covers don't stop there: an attenuated lap steel version of Funkadelic's mournful instrumental "Maggot Brain" segues into Serge Gainsbourg's "Manon" for a tragic, trembling coup de grace. And the album's six echo-twang originals are every bit as inspired.

Sometimes making the intangible tangible (i.e. trying to describe sonic vibrations using the printed word) can be exceedingly difficult, especially when it's something as downright simple and beautiful as the jangly country-rock of Detroit's Volebeats. Yes, the band does a few twangy covers of acts as disparate as Abba, Slayer and Funkadelic on Country Favorites, but essentially its sound is nothing new --- Big Star, The Byrds, R.E.M.'s more countryish numbers --- but damn do they do it well. There's something beyond words to the haunting, lonely melodies on this disc, something metaphysical even, that won't let you take it out of your stereo.

Fans of the Volebeats have been anticipating a new album since 2000's Mosquito Spiral, and while we'll still have to wait a bit longer, the band was kind enough to release Country Favorites to tide us over. Hard-to-find Volebeats recordings, a few unheard originals and more than a handful of great cover songs make up this cosmic country caravan. Never flying by the seat of their would-be nudie-suit pants, the band swears by each and every song they do, resulting in an album with absolutely no filler. In true Flying Burrito Brothers fashion, the Volebeats lend their signature Americana flavor to plenty of cover songs by artists including the 13th Floor Elevators, Abba, Funkadelic, Serge Gainsbourg and even an intriguing take on Slayer's "Die by the Sword." The talent of this under-appreciated band is evident as they turn the unexpected into songs that sound like a psychedelic combination of the International Submarine Band and Whiskeytown. If you're a longtime fan, you may recognize some of these tunes - including the most upbeat cover of the disc, "Hamtramck Mama" - from compilations and singles, but it's nice to have them all in one place. Lots of folks around town (including myself) can't say enough good things about this band; we're just waiting for the rest of the world to catch on.

Reason to Buy: Fantastic alt-country that you haven't heard.

Best Listening Experience: "Hamtramck Mama," "Knowing Me Knowing You," "One I Love" and "218."

This twang-rock band from Detroit has three songwriters, Jeff Oakes, Bob McCreedy and Outrageous Cherry's Matthew Smith, who puts his distinctive stamp on a few tracks. This collection is low key, mixing in band originals with a grab bag of covers. This may be the first album ever to include countrified renditions of Abba ("Knowing Me, Knowing You"), Serge Gainesbourg ("Manon") and Funkadelic ("Maggot Brain") on one disc, though I probably should comb through Roy Clark's discography before standing by that statement. Smith gets a vocal turn that shows that his approach works as well on a weepy ballad ("Standing Next to You") as it does on his vaunted psych-pop with Outrageous Cherry. Other solid originals include McCreedy's "318", with some cool twang guitar on a langorous ode to a car (and the song appropriately clocks in at 3:18). There's a nice convergence of twang guitar solo, pedal steel and harmonica blowing during the instrumental break. Jeff Oakes has a nasal vocal on a song that is part Western, part honky tonk ("One I Love"). This has a great ‘60s country feel and guest Erika Hoffman's distant vocal accompaniment just makes the song that much better. The aforementioned Abba and Funkadelic covers are fantastic, retaining the essential characteristics of the songs while remaining true to the Volebeats' sound. If you like Calexico, but wished they had more of a roadhouse sensibility, this record is definitely for you.

Longtime followers of the wildly eclectic and often surprising Volebeats are looking for an album of new material from the band later this year. Until then, they'll have to content themselves with "Country Favorites," a 12-track collection of outtakes, oddities and off-the-wall covers that is country only in the loosest (or most ironic) sense of the word.

If you think of Bloodshot records, the Mekons to Ryan Adams (a champion of the band), that’s the sort of sound you get here; standard guitar led instrumentation, harmony vocals - a muscular version of the Byrds. Here they collect together cover versions: ‘I Had to Tell You’, ‘Knowing Me, Knowing You’ (yes that one) interspersed with originals that hold there own in exalted company. Volebeats are redolent of wooden floors, sweat and sawdust, a blue collar approach, short and hard. On ‘One I Love’ guitars twang for a few bars and then leave in search of the next one. Abba songs are always constructed along timeless lines and here it sounds as though Roger McGuinn wrote it in the 60’s - the hook is a twangsome as a hayride and the whole thing works (if you don’t think of Glen Ponder). Simple tools, a train, ‘3.18’ a croon, ‘Almost Crying’ open hearts and emotions, uncomplicated sorrow, a turn around the floor for ‘Hold On’ cowboy boots clacking, domestic beer and pick-ups. Grab a partner for ‘Too Much Love,’ hold on tight for a slow song that’ll propel you around the floor slowly as your shoulders become wet with your partner’s tears of regret brought out by the heartfelt honesty of the song. Gothic country makes a visit on Slayer’s ‘Die by the Sword,’ all coiled menace and melodrama, guitars flashing like night creature caught in headlights. Travel back in time for ‘Hamtramck Mama’ with its country blues swagger and then go somewhere strange for Funkadelic’s ‘Maggot Brain’ - given gentle treatment and a lap steel it is transformed into a elegiac soundtrack for a slow motion firework display, notes moving upwards before exploding, a comet trails of organ providing a backdrop for the colour. And to cap it all, ‘Manon’ is a Serge Gainsbourg song imbued with as much Gallic feeling as you could hope for - you’ll swear it was wearing a beret. This jukebox collection will keep fans happy until the next full-length.

Catering to enthusiasts searching for what Gram Parsons called “Cosmic American Music,” Turquoise Mountain Records, Rainbow Quartz’s new imprint, promises to serve up bands with “a bit of an edge to their music.” The decision to release Country Favorites, a 12–track collection of studio outtakes, hard–to–find rarities, and off–the–wall covers by Detroit’s legendary and wildly eclectic Volebeats comes, therefore, as no surprise. Applying slide and reverb to everything from ’60s psychedelia (13th Floor Elevators’ “I Had to Tell You”) to ’70s disco pop (Abba’s “Knowing Me Knowing You”) to ’80s metal (Slayer’s “Die by the Sword”), the Volebeats display an unrelenting penchant for playing great songs regardless of generic parameters. Twangy originals like “Hold On” and “Standin’ Next to You,” and superb covers of the York Brothers’s “Hamtramck Mama” (a previously– banned 1940s ode to hometown prostitution) and Funkadelic’s “Maggot Brain” are among the highlights of this inspired, low–fi gem. The Volebeats are currently working on their next full–length album…until then, the lonesome pop–rock twang of Country Favorites will keep you in good company.

Funny that I should mention the Volebeats (a band that I have really dug since I acquired their first CD-EP). Their latest release (on Turquoise Mountain) is entitled Country Favorites. Jeff Oakes excels at ballads, and "Too Much Love" takes him in the same superb direction as Canada's Blue Shadows. "I Had To Tell You" should be gaining the band some airplay, but this ain't a perfect world. It is, however, a perfect enough world to support one excellent release after another by this very under-heralded band!

This twang-rock band from Detroit has three songwriters, Jeff Oakes, Bob McCreedy and Outrageous Cherry's Matthew Smith, who puts his distinctive stamp on a few tracks. This collection is low key, mixing in band originals with a grab bag of covers. This may be the first album ever to include countrified renditions of Abba ("Knowing Me, Knowing You"), Serge Gainesbourg ("Manon") and Funkadelic ("Maggot Brain") on one disc, though I probably should comb through Roy Clark's discography before standing by that statement. Smith gets a vocal turn that shows that his approach works as well on a weepy ballad ("Standing Next to You") as it does on his vaunted psych-pop with Outrageous Cherry. Other solid originals include McCreedy's "318", with some cool twang guitar on a langorous ode to a car (and the song appropriately clocks in at 3:18). There's a nice convergence of twang guitar solo, pedal steel and harmonica blowing during the instrumental break. Jeff Oakes has a nasal vocal on a song that is part Western, part honky tonk ("One I Love"). This has a great ‘60s country feel and guest Erika Hoffman's distant vocal accompaniment just makes the song that much better. The aforementioned Abba and Funkadelic covers are fantastic, retaining the essential characteristics of the songs while remaining true to the Volebeats' sound. If you like Calexico, but wished they had more of a roadhouse sensibility, this record is definitely for you.

If you didn't know differently, you'd think this latest release from the Detroit alt.country act Volebeats was simply an homage to the tradition of the sorrow-drenched, AM radio days of country music and the honky tonk days of the Motor City. But you'd only be half right.

What makes Country Favorites astounding and a truly enjoyable record is that while many of these tunes are covers, they aren't renditions of those country and honky tonk favorites. Rather, you'll find the likes of ABBA, Slayer, and Funkadelic covered here in most surprising and rewarding ways.

The Volebeats have long been an influential, if unheralded, alt.country outfit, practicing the "Cosmic American Music" made popular by hero Gram Parsons for over a decade. Their fans include the cranky misfit Ryan Adams and country singer Laura Cantrell, who covered the band on her debut record. They'll have a new record of originals out later this year, but in the meantime have offered up this mix of covers and original hard-to-find rarities. While such a record would likely be considered an act of ego stroking for someone like, I dunno, the aforementioned Mr. Adams, it's anything but in the hands of singer Jeff Oakes, guitarist Matthew Smith, and the rest of the band.

Opening tracks "I Had to Tell You" (a 13th Floor Elevators cover) and "One I Love" (an original) highlight the mellow harmonies and reverb-heavy soundscapes that have come to typify the band. "One I Love", in fact, can stand toe-to-toe with the best of the band's catalogue; it's a dark, almost psychedelic, western pop song that reminds of Murmur-era R.E.M.

The cover song fun begins on the third track, an oddly effective rendition of ABBA's "Knowing Me Knowing You". In the hands of the Volebeats, it sounds like it could have come directly from late-night, 1970s country radio. Countrified versions of pop songs have been attempted by enough bands that the mere mention of the concept is rightly met with skepticism. Yet, here the songs manage to sound organic -- as if this were the way they were supposed to be played all along. They mesh perfectly with additional Volebeat originals like "Hold On" and "Too Much Love" before giving way to more covers. Slayer's "Die by the Sword", for instance, sounds like the soundtrack to a Clint Eastwood western in the group's capable hands, and the trippy guitar work on Funkadelic's "Maggot Brain" is all that cosmic country rock should be.

The Volebeats are able to pull all this off, of course, because they are masters of their craft. Their expertly-executed, inspired brand of country music both evokes and breaks away from the genre's "favorites". They are capable of sounding like Hank Williams and Pet Sounds-era Beach Boys in the same chorus line. They don't do anything overly experimental and they don't do anything much different than when they started a decade ago. But there's something to be said for knowing your sound and sticking to it. Now if some of that would just rub off on their fan Adams....

When I discovered that this odds and sods collection from Detroit's Volebeats contained countrified covers from such disparate artists -- ABBA, Funkadelic, Serge Gainsbourg and Slayer -- a single thought immediately entered my mind: This is a bad, BAD idea. Much to my surprise, the music was darn tasty, and while I'll still slag off a novelty cover at the first hint of the thing self-important social commentators call "post-modern irony," the sincerity and professionalism of the Country Favourites disc was enough to temper my jaded soul. Twelve tracks can be found on this album, and aside from the covers, there are some great originals that could very well have been hatched from Byrds' eggs laid during the Sweetheart of the Rodeo sessions. Heartfelt lyrics and a strong dose of "awww, shucks" sincerity are iced with gooey layers of sweet, chiming guitars, tasteful drum patterns and just the right amount of twang as to not cause one to vomit. The filthy shores of Lake Michigan seems a most unlikely place to find a band like the Volebeats, but nothing here seems to indicate anything less than a 100% dedication to flying the flag of country music north of the 49th. My only knock against this band is that they're buddies with Ryan Adams (aka Satan), but hey, nobody's perfect.

This latest from Detroit's Volebeats includes rarities, cover tunes and a few new ones to placate fans until it releases its full length disc of new material sometime next year. But - holy No Depression! - most bands would kill for an album this strong. They may be leftovers, but there's hardly a clinker in the bunch.

The septet, led by singer Jeff Oakes and guitarist/singer Matthew Smith, explores the harmonic, twangy motherlode long mined by the Byrds, Gram Parsons, early Poco and the brothers Louvin, Everly and Flying Burrito. This collection isn't exactly hard-core honky-tonk, rather it's more the pedal steel, blended-voice, rock-driven hippie country that flourished in the late 60s, early 70s.

There are plenty of closeknit harmonies, plaintive vocals and wistful balladry framed by ringing guitars. The rendition of ABBA's "Knowing Me, Knowing You" sounds like something straight out of 'Sweetheart of the Rodeo' complete with chiming Jim McGuinn electric 12-string. It also givesthe country-rock treatment to Slayer, Serge Gainsbourg and, get this, a Dead version of Funkadelic's "Maggot Brain."

For breezy, mellifluous and relatively irony-free downhome rock, the Volebeats got your country, right outta Detroit.

Led by moonlighting Outrageous Cherry singer Matthew Smith, these veteran Detroit scenesters have been making swanky, twangy, tremolo’d rock and roll for a decade now. This time around, the Volebeats put their distinctive stamp on inspired songs by artists ranging from Abba and Funkadelic to the 13th Floor Elevators and Serge Gainsbourg. For grins, they also reconstitute Slayer’s "Die by the Sword" as a menacing shuffle that splits the difference between the arid desert echoes of Calexico and the Western scores of Ennio Morricone. Okay, so maybe the world didn’t need a rambling, roadhouse-style remake of Abba’s "Knowing Me Knowing You," but the Voles’ loping country version reaffirms the strength of the original — the chorus still sticks in your craw.

Smith’s own hopelessly lonesome "Standing Next to You," which follows, is a top-shelf closing-time tearjerker. That the covers sit so well alongside the originals says something about the Volebeats’ interpretive powers — or about the band’s tendency to expunge the distinguishing characteristics that made those numbers worth covering in the first place. The exception is Funkadelic’s instrumental "Maggot Brain," an old Eddie Hazel guitar-freakout showcase that they transform into prime country psychedelia. Like Yo La Tengo’s Fakebook or even Outrageous Cherry’s own Stereo Action Rent Party (which offered up covers of hits by everyone from 10cc to Prince), Country Favorites is part tribute and part joke: a wink, a laugh, and ultimately a very pleasant listen.

With tunes from famous country songwriters Roky Erickson, Abba, Serge Gainsbourg, and George Clinton, the York Brothers' sexy-then-and-sexy-now 1949 "Hamtramck Mama" plus six of their own songs, not a false note.

Formed in 1988 as an acoustic combo, Detroit's Volebeats have evolved into a sturdy, dependable electric alt-country outfit. The band is as likely to observe the genre's general requirements (sincere, homespun vocals, unflashy, twangy instrumental backing) as to turn them on their head. The band consistently relaxes the definition of what "country favorites" might actually stand for on this odds-and-ends collection split between covers and originals. The Volebeats are set to finish up a proper full-length album of originals for later this year.

The covers are an eclectic, oddball bunch designed for extreme makeovers. Funkadelic's "Maggot Brain" is slowed to a crawl. Eddie Hazel's original manic, emotionally overloaded fretwork is refined until its bittersweet melody is wrapped only in a static lazy drone. Slayer's "Die by the Sword" has its rhythmic pummel replaced with elastic nuance. ABBA's "Knowing Me, Knowing You" stands on its own melodic strength without the usual nod 'n' wink that usually accompanies camp classics. Only the York Brothers' 1940's prostitution homage "Hamtramck Mama" is played with its original intentions intact. Reinterpreting the 13th Floors Elevators' "I Had to Tell You" and Serge Gainsbourg's "Manon" make for intriguing listening and send the group further outside its stylistic parameters.

However, it shouldn't be overlooked that the band does serve up several notable originals as well. Vocalist/guitarist Jeff Oakes' surprisingly upbeat "One I Love" (not the R.E.M. song, folks) and guitarist Bob McCreedy's "Hold On" both showcase the group's obvious indestructible chemistry.

Longtime followers of the wildly eclectic and often surprising Volebeats are looking for an album of new material from the band later this year. Until then, they'll have to content themselves with "Country Favorites," a 12-track collection of outtakes, oddities and off-the-wall covers that is country only in the loosest (or most ironic) sense of the word.

This is a compilation that finds Jeff Oakes, Matthew Smith and company applying their rock-pop-and-twang sensibilities to everything from '60s psychedelia (a striking cover of the 13th Floor Elevators' "I Had to Tell You") to '70s dance pop (Abba's "Knowing Me Knowing You") to '80s metal (Slayer's "Die By the Sword"). However, it's original tunes that never made it onto previous Volebeats albums that provide the disc's high points, among them "Standing Next to You," a moody folk outtake from the 2001 release "Mosquito Spiral"; "One I Love," a near-perfect example of '90s alt-country; and old-time honky-tonker "Hold On," another "Spiral" outtake.

Hometown fans who have followed the band since its late-'80s inception will have special regard for "318," a tune by the departed Bob McCreedy that gives Motor City garage rock a hillbilly tweak ("She's loud and fast, long and mean/ She's my little Dee-troit three-eighteen") and the bluesy "Hamtramck Mama," a celebration of Ham-town ladies of the evening that ruffled feathers when it was recorded by Detroit's York Brothers back in 1939.

Though they occasionally sing about cars, Detroit's Volebeats sound nothing like Motor City brethren Eminem, Kid Rock, the Insane Clown Posse, Bob Seger, Ted Nugent, Suzi Quatro, MC5, Mitch Ryder, Was (Not Was), the White Stripes, or anything ever released on the Motown label. And while the roots rockers -- anchored by singer-songwriters Jeff Oakes, Matthew Smith, and Bob McCreedy -- indeed spring from the close-harmony, thin-guitar loins of country-rock ancestors Gram Parsons and the Byrds, the title of their sixth album is not only ironic but a bit misleading as well.

Given the egalitarian mix of a half-dozen covers and a half-dozen originals (several released on previous alt.country compilations), Country Favorites arrives as something of a dog paddle in between altogether-new releases. And rather than the expected standards from George Jones or Hank Sr. or Patsy Cline, the Volebeats convert the tunes of groups a road trip or more away from Nashville.

Sweden, for example. The album's most recognizable cover, Abba's "Knowing Me, Knowing You," gets the full Byrds treatment, while the George Clinton-penned "Maggot Brain" (originally recorded by Detroit-based Parliament) could peacefully coexist on any mid-'70s Pink Floyd offering. By contrast, Slayer's "Die by the Sword" spills out with low-register vocals and a menacing rumble of instrumentation. Only the York Brothers' "Hamtramck Mama," a 1940s ode to suburban Detroit prostitution, is inherently country. Here the trebly twang propels such authenticity it's hard to believe the song could be performed without cigarettes, doghouse bass, starched white shirts, and delineated comb tracks through a carefully plumbed pompadour.

And yet it's the Volebeats originals that are truly Country Favorites. From the Bakersfield shuffle of "One I Love" through the melancholy acceptance of "Too Much Love" ("Too much love/Sometimes just ain't enough/And too much wine/Soaks up all your time") and the good-enough-for-a-slow-dance resignation of "Almost Crying," the Volebeats prove they don't have to go outside their own songbook to be as mournful as they wanna be.

Catering to enthusiasts searching for what Gram Parsons called “Cosmic American Music,” Turquoise Mountain Records, Rainbow Quartz’s new imprint, promises to serve up bands with “a bit of an edge to their music.” The decision to release Country Favorites, a 12–track collection of studio outtakes, hard–to–find rarities, and off–the–wall covers by Detroit’s legendary and wildly eclectic Volebeats comes, therefore, as no surprise. Applying slide and reverb to everything from ’60s psychedelia (13th Floor Elevators’ “I Had to Tell You”) to ’70s disco pop (Abba’s “Knowing Me Knowing You”) to ’80s metal (Slayer’s “Die by the Sword”), the Volebeats display an unrelenting penchant for playing great songs regardless of generic parameters. Twangy originals like “Hold On” and “Standin’ Next to You,” and superb covers of the York Brothers’s “Hamtramck Mama” (a previously– banned 1940s ode to hometown prostitution) and Funkadelic’s “Maggot Brain” are among the highlights of this inspired, low–fi gem. The Volebeats are currently working on their next full–length album…until then, the lonesome pop–rock twang of Country Favorites will keep you in good company.

Detroit's Volebeats are the kind of band that's a little too cool for the big-picture genre rooms like country and rock, but the quiet cult that follows the seven-member troupe understands. "Country Favorites" is another gem, packed with choice originals like the spirited "Hold On" and "One I Love" and weepers such as "Standing Next to You" and "Too Much Love." Then there's the covers, with unexpected treatments of ABBA's "Knowing Me Knowing You" and Funkadelic's "Maggot Brain," among others. A treat that sounds like nothing else being done in Detroit - or many other places, for that matter.

Sometimes making the intangible tangible (i.e. trying to describe sonic vibrations using the printed word) can be exceedingly difficult, especially when it's something as downright simple and beautiful as the jangly country-rock of Detroit's Volebeats. Yes, the band does a few twangy covers of acts as disparate as Abba, Slayer and Funkadelic on Country Favorites, but essentially its sound is nothing new --- Big Star, The Byrds, R.E.M.'s more countryish numbers --- but damn do they do it well. There's something beyond words to the haunting, lonely melodies on this disc, something metaphysical even, that won't let you take it out of your stereo.

Fans of the Volebeats have been anticipating a new album since 2000's Mosquito Spiral, and while we'll still have to wait a bit longer, the band was kind enough to release Country Favorites to tide us over. Hard-to-find Volebeats recordings, a few unheard originals and more than a handful of great cover songs make up this cosmic country caravan. Never flying by the seat of their would-be nudie-suit pants, the band swears by each and every song they do, resulting in an album with absolutely no filler. In true Flying Burrito Brothers fashion, the Volebeats lend their signature Americana flavor to plenty of cover songs by artists including the 13th Floor Elevators, Abba, Funkadelic, Serge Gainsbourg and even an intriguing take on Slayer's "Die by the Sword." The talent of this under-appreciated band is evident as they turn the unexpected into songs that sound like a psychedelic combination of the International Submarine Band and Whiskeytown. If you're a longtime fan, you may recognize some of these tunes - including the most upbeat cover of the disc, "Hamtramck Mama" - from compilations and singles, but it's nice to have them all in one place. Lots of folks around town (including myself) can't say enough good things about this band; we're just waiting for the rest of the world to catch on.

Reason to Buy: Fantastic alt-country that you haven't heard.

Best Listening Experience: "Hamtramck Mama," "Knowing Me Knowing You," "One I Love" and "218."

Country? Sure. Favourites? Definitely. But Country Favourites, the sixth studio effort from Detroit’s Volebeats, doesn’t live up to its title quite as neatly as you might think. You won’t find the works of Waylon or Willie among these dozen cuts. But you will find twangeriffic versions of The 13th Floor Elevators’ I Had to Tell, ABBA’s Knowing Me Knowing You, Funkadelic’s Maggot Brain, Slayer’s Die by the Sword and Serge Gainsbourg’s Manon. Sprinkled between, you’ll also find some originals that are every bit as enjoyable and approachable even if they are less familiar and kitschy. And best of all, you’ll find that with their jangly Byrdsy guitars, warm vocals and rootsy authenticity, many of these cuts sound a bit like Dwight Yoakam jamming with Blue Rodeo. With all that going for it, Country Favourites could easily end up being one of yours.

“This is a great compilation that will introduce newcomers to the fantastic world of The Volebeats, as well as tie up all the loose ends for those of us that have been there since day one.”

Turquoise Mountain is a new Rainbow Quartz imprint dedicated to what they call "Cosmic American Music," which is defined as anything that sits in that Byrds/Gram Parsons/Michael Nesmith country rock genre. Grabbing The Volebeats was a good choice since they’ve been knocking out their own version of country-rock and twang since the late ‘80s. Country Favorites gathers up some rarities, many of which are covers, including their version of "Knowing Me, Knowing You" which reinvents Abba as Fables-era REM. Their take on "Die By The Sword" sees Morricone meet Slayer and a breathtaking twang-up of the immortal Funkadelic classic "Maggot Brain" would make Eddie Hazel proud! There are some new cuts too, like the jaunty "Hold On" and yet another loving homage to a car on "318." This is a great compilation that will introduce newcomers to the fantastic world of The Volebeats, as well as tie up all the loose ends for those of us that have been there since day one.

Casting Detroit’s Volebeats in strict y’allternative terms has always been a deadline-challenged critic’s folly; the group is more Brian Wilson than Hank Williams, more Lou Reed that Jim Reeves. That said, for this 12-song collection it sticks pretty close to alt-country territory, with the six band originals recalling, variously, George Jones, the Everly Brothers, Gram Parsons, and the Eagles. The six covers may raise eyebrows, however. “Maggot Brain,” admittedly, doesn’t alter the Funkadelic template too much, not even with pedal steel player Jon Rauhouse guesting. But the 13th Floor Elevators’ “I Had To Tell You” is as jangly-twangly as a long-lost Whiskeytown side, and Slayer’s “Die by the Sword” is transformed into a grim country dirge worthy of a Flannery O’Conner tribute album. Equally improbable are versions of Abba’s “Knowing Me, Knowing You” and Serge Gainsbourg’s “Manon.” Truth in album titling, or merely ironic? Either way, the Volebeats’ strum und twang is in full effect on Country Favorites.